Need help with video settings

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Zake202

Gawd
Joined
Jan 19, 2008
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559
Recently I started screwing around with my video settings, and there are a few I'm not sure if I should keep on or off.

Basically, the only game I really play atm is WoW.

I just got a X1650GT

I keep AA at 4x and AF at 8x.

My question is...as far as wow goes, do I want AA at 6x and AF at 16x or should I keep them at 4/8?

Also, for AF, do I want Quality with Trilinear on or just Quality?

Do I want to enable high quality AF?

I guess instead of yes or no answers I'd really appreciate a small explination of what each does and if they are a performance hit. (at least for Quality with Trilinear, and HQ AF)

(i understand what AA and AF fine, just not sure what the extra settings for them does in a game like WOW)
 
Zake202 said:
Recently I started screwing around with my video settings, and there are a few I'm not sure if I should keep on or off.

Basically, the only game I really play atm is WoW.

I just got a X1650GT

I keep AA at 4x and AF at 8x.

My question is...as far as wow goes, do I want AA at 6x and AF at 16x or should I keep them at 4/8?

Also, for AF, do I want Quality with Trilinear on or just Quality?

Do I want to enable high quality AF?

I guess instead of yes or no answers I'd really appreciate a small explination of what each does and if they are a performance hit. (at least for Quality with Trilinear, and HQ AF)

(i understand what AA and AF fine, just not sure what the extra settings for them does in a game like WOW)
Click to expand...

WoW is a tradeoff with that videocard. Even though people say "It's just WoW', when you crank the settings you should do it ingame.
If you're going to be using that card I highly suggest you don't use 24 bit-24bit-8x or 4x, just use 24bit-24bit-2x. Your card can't handle smoothing out whatever characters are in your terrain distance-- It's just not the best card.

Usually these cards are made to be used by light gamers, you should also tell us the resolution.

If you use an LCD you should keep Vsync off because if you can't get over 60FPS there will be lots of frames lost since Vsync/Refresh Rate are intertwined (Do a search on the board, Vsync is only good if you can get 60 FPS or higher all the time).

You want Trilinear quality, all of these settings that can be used should be done in game on the video settings since that's where they work best.

Turn the Anisotropic filtering slider into the middle with 24bit-24bit-2x sampling and your resolution. Turn everything else up on high and hit control-r and see the FPS. Tune it from there. Start with things like terrain texture and whatnot (The minimal things) as they'll help you hit that sweetspot. Can't hold your hand otherwise, just tellin' you what I know
 
I've always run the 24x24 at 6x. Even with my 9800XT. Guess that is a mistake?

Can't stand tearing either, so I usually keep Vsync on. my resolution is 1280x1024 and refresh rate is set to 75.

I do get above 60fps in a lot of parts though.

I guess I will look and tweak my settings ingame.

I'm not trying to get my FPS at max in all parts of the game. I've always played at 4x/8x with vsync on.

Just trying to understand what some of those settings are.
 
Zake202 said:
I've always run the 24x24 at 6x. Even with my 9800XT. Guess that is a mistake?

Can't stand tearing either, so I usually keep Vsync on. my resolution is 1280x1024 and refresh rate is set to 75.

I do get above 60fps in a lot of parts though.

I guess I will look and tweak my settings ingame.

I'm not trying to get my FPS at max in all parts of the game. I've always played at 4x/8x with vsync on.

Just trying to understand what some of those settings are.
Click to expand...


Btw the card isn't the same as a Pro. It uses the same chip as the XT, and I don't see how the setting should be set to low if I usto run a lot of them the same with my 9800xt. *shrugs*

Oops meant for that to be added to my above post.
 
It's still not a very strong videocard.

IF you're running 1280x1024 you should be able to max it or near that.

Just remember that control-r will show you frames. You want it to be 45-50 in clusterfuck places such as SSC
 
If you have a LCD just leave Vsync off because if you're getting 60 FPS and then you're in SSC and get about 30-40, VSync doesn't give you that 30-40. It will nail you down to 45. You could have 59 without vsync but it will give you 45. It's something to do with frame buffers (Huge article on here somewhere). Leave Triple buffering on maybe that will help-- I myself leave Vsync off.

If you're running 75hz on a monitor it sure sounds like a CRT but I can't be certian, it's up to you but I highly suggest you check out a lower refresh rate like 60 and try vsync.

Remember in WoW it's not the FPS you get in IF but moreso when you're bombing 80 mobs with 30 different AOEs and lots of action -- That's where you should tune it best in my opinion because that's where you want to determine your lowest FPS and go from there. YOu should be okay though.

Most settings are smoothing the jaggies and some are sharpening the textures. Texture quality and spell quality are 2 things that are huge in my opinion but it depends on the gamer. That's the thing about WoW is that all the settings can be tuned in preferred Eye Candy depending on the gamer.
 
Personally I'd go with AF over AA in WoW. There isn't much in the way of jaggy edges to begin with and the AF will really sharpen up the textures and make the game look much better. I will admit that turning up the AA does help, but I personally find turning up the AF to make the game look better to me. Try both and see which you like better I'd say.

HQ AF does better filtering at 90 degree angles or something like that IIRC. It does make the AF look better so I'd turn it on if you can.

I always vsync with triple buffering myself, the triple buffering really does help when frame rates drop. Also turn off the smooth mouse or whatever it's called as it really gives a performance hit with no difference as far as I can tell in UI lag.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone.

I think for now I'm going to keep Vsync on, and turn HQ AF on.

Do I need trilinear on?

Other then that I'm going to mess with texture quality and such.
 
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